Drug-free fun

Shoot Hoops camps provide participants an opportunity to interact with positive role models, receive positive anti-drug and self-esteem messages in conjunction with basic basketball skills instruction. A brief education program on marijuana; how to talk with your children about drugs; and the signs, symptoms and dangers of drugs is provided to parents and/or guardians. Since inception, 1,524 adults have attended these trainings.

All participants in the UNITE-sponsored camps received a specially designed event shirt, regulation autographed Shoot Hoops Not Drugs basketball, and were entered into a drawing for two portable basketball goals given away at each location.

Shoot Hoops Not Drugs programs teach school-age youth fundamental basketball skills while emphasizing the importance for them to stay drug-free. Camps are fun, interactive, and provide a safe, drug-free activity where children have an opportunity to interact with positive role models while learning fundamental basketball skills.

As a senior at the University of Kentucky, Sheppard was named the NCAA’s Final Four Most Valuable Player in the Wildcats’ 1997-98 National Championship season. He would later go on to play one season with the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and 3 years in Italy.

Some of the best volunteers at camp have been the residents and staff from the WestCare and Chad’s Hope treatment facilities. Their enthusiasm for helping youth stay positive and headed in a drug-free direction has added an extra spark to the instruction.

Through 2015 there have been 61 Shoot Hoops Not Drugs camps drawing 8,295 youth participants from 56 Kentucky counties, 20 other states, and two other countries – England and Mexico.